Return
by Smileyone1
Summary: A one-shot featuring my Zarch Bell fanfic OC character, Sorella, and Kumara, Mukai-sama's charrie. Summary: Flames can warm, soothe, and carry a sense of protection... but they can also ignite despair.


RETURN

Author's Note: _I don't recommend reading this if you haven't been reading my main fanfiction, "The Blinding Book." I decided to write a few mini-stories, or drabbles, I suppose, about my OC characters. Anyhoo, some of my story's followers expressed that they liked Sorella and Kumara as a couple, so I thought I'd do a little mini story about just them! ^_^ Enjoy!_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Zatch Bell, but Sorella, Rita and whatnot I did make, and Kumara belongs to Mukai-sama, mah buddy!

It had been so easy for me... so very easy...

I had forgotten Kumara was a fire demon... it didn't seem to register in my mind when that massive wave of fire exploded from the car wreck that happened right near us.

It was a lazy day, and I wasn't really expecting anything to happen. One moment Kumara and I were arguing about how he tried to toss pop rocks into my Dippin' Dots, and the next...

I had enveloped him in my arms and turned my back on the fire. I remember yelling in pain as we were thrown backwards, and hissed as the flames licked my burnt skin.

"Dammit, what were you thinking?" Kumara growled as he healed me in a matter of minutes. "I'm a fire demon!"

"I didn't think," I mumbled, glaring at him as I got up, eyes tight.

He hadn't noticed yet.

"No kidding!" Kumara snarled. "You coulda _died,_ moron! Now hurry up and let's go... I need to tell Brago this so he can chew you out... maybe literally..."

"I'm... not going with you..." I whispered, not moving.

Kumara froze and turned, only then noticing the subtle glow around my skin, as if I were fading from the inside out... His bright red eyes looking around until they spotted my book lying on the street near the vendor we'd been standing by when the explosion hit.

The fire was everywhere since gasoline had spilt from that car that had forgotten to put his fuel cap on...

My book was protected against fire demon flames... not normal ones... the pages were curling in on themselves and the edges were glowing red hot from the burning flames now consuming the book like hungry men consume a small slice of bread.

Kumara rushed over, though I didn't move, and instead watched him with sad eyes. He tried to absorb the fire, but it was beyond his ability to control... beyond his fiery domain.

With great effort he lurched away from it and back to me, wearing a forced smile.

"Well... it's not so bad... you lost the battle, but I'll just bring you back anyway... I'll meet you there, okay?"

I didn't answer and instead watched him closely with the same pitying expression as he tried to warp to the mamodo world, but his form only blitzing in and out of focus like a bad TV box channel.

His red eyes flew open in panic and his mouth stammered for words before getting them out in a choked whisper: "I... I can't get there...! Something's... something's stopping me!"

Again, I remained silent and he whirled towards me, staring at me as I continued to fade. He rushed over, red eyes blazing.

"You knew, didn't you?" he demanded almost angrily. "You knew I wouldn't be able to go get you!"

"I didn't want our time as friends wasted because you were depressed I would leave," I said softly, looking down.

"There has to be some way I can...!"

"NO," I intervened sharply, my golden eyes flicking upwards to glare at him with enormous emotion. "There's not, Kumara. It's over."

"It's not!" he growled, suddenly lunging for me.

His arms wrapped around me and one of his hand's fingers gripped my waist with intense strength, while the other hand clutched at the back of my head, holding my face to his chest.

"You're staying..." he growled savagely, grip tightening so much that I had troubled breathing. It was as if he were trying to anchor me here by the strength of his hold.

"I'm sorry... Kumara..." I whispered, blinking back tears, pressing my face into his shoulder.

"This isn't... DAMMIT, IT SHOULDN'T BE LIKE THIS!" he yelled, eyes squinting shut.

I froze at his despair and a thought flittered into my head like a lazily drifting butterfly and out of my mouth.

"Kumara you... you love me, don't you...?" I asked softly, wondering how I hadn't seen it before.

Who had always been right there for me? Who was almost always the first one to jump at the chance to help me when I needed it? Who was the one that always watched out for me, if not in a piggish, arrogant, jerkish way?

Kumara's bright red eyes flew open and he pulled back a bit to stare at me.

"Wha... what...?" he gasped, but my face remained the same; sad, wistful, and tight with emotion.

A soft glow started to spark into the air from my skin and I was becoming transparent... soon, he wouldn't be able to hold me at all and would phase right through... Kumara's mouth opened and closed for a moment, as if trying to formulate words, before he seemingly just thought, "Screw it!" and collided into me.

His mouth pressed against mine ferociously, as if making every moment count. His lips opened mine so he could inhale my breath as if treasuring the breaths I still breathed on this world. Kumara thread his fingers into my hair with one hand, while the fingers of another grappled at the skin on my waist as he tried to get closer.

I was frozen in shock... I certainly was _not _expecting _this_! Maybe some sailor cursing and explosions (oh wait, we already had that...), but not... not this... I felt my heart cave into his urgent demands and wrapped my arms around his firm waist so I could curve into him insistently, like we were attempting to become one single being.

Kumara didn't once let me surface for air, and didn't once let me pull away from him, and continued to kiss me as if he were attempting to devour my breath.

"NO..." he growled over my mouth, making me shudder at his touch as he moved his hands to my shoulders, gripping them tightly.

His mouth moved to my jaw, cheek, and then he kissed my bottom lip, making me let out a small sound of sadness mingled with joy. I hadn't expected to feel such warmth when he touched me in such a way, nor such heart piercing sadness…

"No..." he repeated. "I'll find a way! I'll... I'll bring you back! I mean it, dammit! I made you a promise!"

I felt my heart shatter as his hands suddenly found they couldn't grab me anymore and Kumara's expression went into misery. He tried to hold me again, but he just phased right through me.

"I'm sorry, Kumara..." I whispered in a broken voice. "I... should have told you before..."

"I MADE A PROMISE!" he yelled at me. "I'll bring you back! If it takes the rest of my life, I'll do it! I won't let you stay in that hell! I promised! I..."

I walked over to him, now just an outline. I tried not to look at myself... I vaguely wondered if this pain was what the other mamodo felt when they were separated from their book masters, or worse yet, if this was how my mother felt when she left my father.

What a bummer that history tended to repeat itself.

"Kumara... I know you promised but... don't waste your life away trying to keep it," I said, staring at him with my golden eyes. "Make me a new promise."

Kumara's fists shook as I leaned forward in what would have been a soft kiss, had I been solid.

"Live without me," I whispered.

"I can't make that...!" he started to say.

"Kumara," I interrupted. "Please... for me?"

Kumara took a large gulp and nodded. "I… I promise! I promise!"

"Thank you..." I sighed, fading into the air as I took in the face of the person I loved the most... of who I knew I would never see again.

Kumara stood there for a long moment before falling to his knees, slamming his fist into the ground and enhancing the hits with bursts of fire. Tears fell from his eyes like glittering drops of sorrow as red flames rose around him, trying to warp to the mamodo world uselessly...

"I... I promise..." Kumara sobbed, curling in on himself as he half-heartedly punched the pavement, looking like he wanted nothing more than to be burned by his own flames.


End file.
